SAN DIEGO - An alleged pimp and his reputed prostitute will stand trial for torturing another young woman who worked as an adult entertainer, a judge ruled Friday.

Christopher Shelor, 23, and Nicole Williams, 21, both face life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit torture, attorneys said.

They are accused of handcuffing, abusing and beating Maya Kaufman, 19, for eight hours on Dec. 7 at his Rolando apartment.

At a preliminary hearing Friday, Kaufman testified that she thought she had been Shelor's girlfriend for about six months before she was tortured and beaten by him and Williams.

She testified that she called Shelor the morning of Dec. 6 to say a group of men weren't letting her leave a hotel room where she had performed as an adult entertainer.

She said Shelor always got jealous or angry if he thought she wasn't getting enough money or was spending too much time at a job, but claimed she worked for an escort service and not for him.

The next day she went to Shelor's apartment, and he and Williams accused her of "setting him up," Kaufman testified.

"It got physical," she said. "He put his hands on my throat."

Kaufman said she left but came back a few hours later.

She said Shelor became angry after calling a number left on her cell phone, and that Williams, who was Shelor's roommate, was laughing as he put handcuffs on her.

Both defendants punched Kaufman, and Williams put a sock in her mouth at Shelor's direction, she testified.

"They said if I tried to leave, Nicole would cut me," she said.

Kaufman said the defendants wrapped an extension cord around her neck and hit her with a plastic vacuum cleaner tube, and that Williams filled the bathtub and Shelor put her head underwater.

She said Shelor got a cigarette lighter hot and held the metal to her skin and also poured wax from a burning candle onto her.

"I was scared," she testified. "I think I was crying the whole time.".

She said the defendants took photos and video of her and threatened to put them on the Internet.

Shelor took the handcuffs and extension cord off Kaufman and told her to go into the bathroom when police arrived, she said.

On cross-examination, Kaufman admitted that telling Shelor she had been raped by the men at the hotel room and been forced into a car at gunpoint was a lie.

She said she knew that Williams worked for Shelor as a prostitute, but that he had told her he was in love with her and wanted to get married.

Superior Court Judge John Thompson ordered the defendants bound over for trial after the hour-long preliminary hearing, saying they were clearly the perpetrators of the attack on Kaufman.

Shelor and Williams -- each held on $1 million bail -- will return to court Jan. 10 for arraignment and trial setting.